I Want You Back
by ScottiRed
Summary: Antonio is in an abusive relationship. When he finally leaves his boyfriend, Lovino realizes what he has done to their relationship, and that he is willing to do anything to repair the damage. But is Antonio willing to forgive him? Rated M for violence, language, adult situations. Human AU, some gender flips; fem!Canada, fem!America
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: **Hi everyone! Scotti here. This is my first attempy at writing a fic, so hopefully it's not too bad. I'll be updating a few more chapters later on, but please read and review for now!

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Antonio blearily opened his eyes and glanced around. _Wait a second… where am I?_ The sleepy Spaniard blinked a few times, then yawned and attempted to stretch, feeling a restrictive weight on his chest. _Oh, right_, he smiled, _I spent the night with Lovi again._

He glanced at the little Italian, still asleep, and snuggled close against his chest. He pressed a small kiss to Lovino's head, before attempting to get out of bed unnoticed. Unfortunately for him, his boyfriend was a light sleeper.

"Thanks for waking me up, bastard."

"Sorry Lovi! I was trying to let you sleep. You just get so snuggly when you're tired!" Antonio pressed another kiss to Lovino's now grouchy face.

"Get the hell out of here!" The Italian shouted, now fully awake and in one of his infamously bad moods.

"Alright, Lovi, I'm going. Do you want me to make you some breakfast?"

"Of course I do, bastard! You fucking woke me up, the least you can do is fucking feed me."

"Alrighhhtt! I'll see you downstairs!"

Antonio was answered with Lovino's alarm clock nearly hitting him as he left the room. He sighed, heading downstairs. _Well, here goes another fabulous morning in the Vargas household._

-o-0-o-

"Ve ~ Good morning, Antonio!" Lovino's younger brother happily bounced into the kitchen just as the Spaniard was finishing up breakfast.

"Good morning, Feli!"

"Ooh! That smells yummy! Did you make all that for Lovi?" Feliciano's eyes went wide, observing the churros, omelets, and breakfast rolls cooling near the stove. Antonio chuckled at the younger Italian's early-morning appetite.

"No, Feli. I'd thought that you might be here too. Go ahead, take a few churros."

"Ve ~ Grazie, Tonio!"

"It's no trouble, little Feli. Did you happen to see your brother on your way downstairs?"

"Si! I think he's in a bad mood though. He was saying something about a bastard who woke him up," Feliciano watched his friend with concern, noticing how Antonio flinched slightly at the news. "Are things okay with you and Lovi?"

"Si, Feli. Everything is fine," Antonio responded, a slight amount of anxiety reaching his words. _Damnit._

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Feliciano, everything is fine. Drop it. I need to get the table set, your brother's going to be down soon."

Feliciano was slightly worried at his friends' suddenly sharp tone. _I bet they got in a fight. They just need to make up. I'll call Ludwig and spend the day with him! _Feliciano smiled, grabbing a churro and running out of the room to call his love in hopes of spending the day together.

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**Another AN: **sorry it's short... yeah... anyways, rates and/or reviews. I'll try to update soon!


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the characters in this thing.

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Antonio lazily flipped between the channels on the television. After breakfast, he and Lovino had considered going back upstairs to bed, but decided against it, because both of them were feeling too lazy to walk all the way up. He was still tired, and was pretty close to dozing off at this point.

"Just pick something, dammit. Are you so stupid that you seriously can't even decide on a goddamn show to watch?"

The Spaniard sighed, clicking on the channel he happened to be on in order to hopefully placate his grouchy other half.

"Are you fucking kidding me? Here Comes Honey Boo Boo? Jesus Christ."

"Here, Lovi, you pick something to watch, I couldn't care less what's on." Antonio lightly tossed the remote to the other side of the couch. Lovino, shockingly enough, wordlessly accepted the remote and started flipping through the guide.

A few minutes later, Lovino was thoroughly engrossed in the newest episode of Operation Repo and Antonio was bored out of his mind, and nearing sleep. _If I'm going to pass out, I may as well be comfy. It's snuggle time!_ He sneakily inched his way across the couch, careful not to startle his spaced-out boyfriend. Lovino saw a slight movement out of the corner of his eye, but paid it no mind; Matt and Carlos were in the middle of repossessing a car, and the woman was pitching a fit.

Out of nowhere, he was hugged tightly by his rambunctious lover.

"Get off me, damnit!" Lovino shouted, roughly shoving his boyfriend to the floor.

"Loviii~," Antonio whined, "if we have to watch the boring repo men, can't we cuddle? Por favor?"

"You dumbass, you can't cuddle me when Matt and Carlos are about to fucking repo this bitch's car! And it's not boring!" _That idiot. Thinks I'd want to cuddle him. _Which he didn't. No way would he ever want to cuddle that bastard.

Antonio sighed sadly, climbing back onto the couch. "Okay, Lovi…" _All I wanted was a little affection. Is that really so much to ask?_ It was going to be a long day.

After an hour of Operation Repo, Antonio couldn't contain himself any longer. He was bored out of his mind. If he didn't go out and do something soon, he was pretty sure he'd either fall asleep or actually go crazy. He stood up and stepped in front of his boyfriend.

"Lovi, let's go do something. I'm bored, and we never go do anything anymore. Plus, I've got plans with Gil and Francis later. I want to spend time with you!"

"What the fuck? We have sleepovers all the time. That's doing something. We're spending time together now. And with Feliciano and his potato bastard out of here, we've got the house to ourselves today. I don't want to go anywhere, what if we run into those dipshits?"

"All we ever do is sleepovers. Come on, let's go have fun!" The hyperactive Spaniard pulled Lovino to his feet and pulled him close. Lovino, of course, shoved him off immediately.

"Mi cariño, please. I want to spend time with you, not having sex, and not watching some terrible tv show."

Lovino frowned at that."Operation Repo isn't terrible. Jesus, you're whiny. What do you want to do, bastardo?" Antonio beamed, and ran upstairs to get ready.

"We're going to the mall!" He called out.

"How the hell is that fun?" Lovino shouted up the stairs.

"Shopping is fun! I'm going to buy you something cute to wear!"

"The hell you will! I'm not trying on anything you pick out, shitface. Just get the fuck back down here before I change my mind!"

After a quick change of clothes, Antonio took a look at himself in the bathroom mirror. _Can you cut it out with the insults? At least cut back a little. Jesus, Lovi. _Lovino didn't really mean all those things, did he? _He doesn't mean it… Probably._ Normally, Antonio couldn't care less about an insult here or there. But for the past month or so, everything Lovino said to him seemed to be an insult of some kind. He couldn't help but feel as though his boyfriend really did mean some the things he said. And then there was that incident the other day… He pulled up his shirt to observe the several fading bruises on his stomach. _Better than yesterday… But I kinda did deserve that one… I was in his space..._ he thought, remembering two days ago when he had hugged his boyfriend from behind and received several painfully hard elbow-jabs to his stomach. He sighed and looked away from his reflection, putting his shirt back down.

"Alright, Lovi, I'm ready!" He called down, grabbing his keys and wallet off of their place on the table in the hall and heading to the front door.

o-0-o

"Oohhh, Lovi! Let's go in there!"

Lovino sighed, "Gesù cristo! That's Build-A-Bear Workshop, dumbass. It's for fucking five-year-olds. We aren't going in there."

"Lovi, I told my class on the first day that we'd start sending a bear home with a different kid each weekend. I haven't even gotten a bear yet, and we're going to be three weeks in on Monday!"

"Damn kindergarteners. I don't understand how you can stand working around snot-nosed brats all day. And you don't even teach them anything either, it's fucking kindergarten."

"They're only five, you can't teach them for too long or they get bored. They're cute! They're at that age where they're so innocent and perfect and I just love spending time getting to know all of them! Mis bebés!"

"You sound like a fucking pedophile. Fine. Let's go. I'm waiting in the chairs by the wall. Go get whatever you want."

Antonio led his boyfriend into the store, then ventured off on his own as Lovino took a seat. He'd been a kindergarten teacher for three years now, and considered himself to be more than qualified to choose something that every child would like at least a little. He spend a good ten minutes poring over the store's selection of potentially-stuffable animals, as this was an important decision and was not to be taken lightly. Finally, he selected a soft, bright green teddy bear with shiny black button eyes. There was absolutely no doubt in his mind that his kids would adore it as he walked over to stuff his bear. The woman at the stuffing station made him do an odd little dance with the bear's heart; rubbing it on his tummy, giving it kisses, and all sorts of other things that would be normal for a child, but were completely strange when done by a twenty-six year old man. After stuffing his bear, and feeling slightly embarrassed of his behavior, he walked to the opposite side of the small store to find his toy something to wear. It was for kindergarteners, there was no way he could leave it naked! Lovino may have had a point, doing this was kind of weird; but it was for his kids, and he couldn't let them down!

"Hey, mister. How come you're making a bear?" Antonio looked to his left to see a little boy, who seemed to be around six, with huge green eyes staring at him. The Spaniard chuckled quietly and knelt down to the child's level.

"I'm a kindergarten teacher. I'm making this bear for my class. You look like you're old enough to be in kindergarten, would you like to help me pick out some clothes?" The boy nodded.

"Yeah! But wee're not gonna dress it like a princess, cause princesses are for girls, and girls have cooties!" Antonio laughed at the boy's innocent remark.

"Okay, we won't make it a princess. How about this pink skirt instead?" Antonio teased the child, making him giggle.

"EWWW! No! That's girl stuff! Put him in this one! It's for a rock star!" The little boy grabbed the pink skirt away from Antonio, and handed him a black t-shirt with a red guitar on it instead. Antonio did as he was asked, to the little boy's delight. Just then, the boy's mother spotted her son and walked over, completely infuriated.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, hanging around a children's store, talking to little boys? People like you make me sick!" His three years as a teacher had made him very good at dealing with parents. He turned on his professional voice.

"Ma'am, I apologize, I'm sure you've got the wrong idea, I'm a kindergarten teacher."

"Like hell you are! That's what all the pedos like you say!" Antonio deflated a bit at that.

"No, really! I'm making this bear so I can send it home with my kids over the weekends!"

"Yeah, okay. I'm calling security." At that, he started to worry.

"No! I'm serious! Come on," he looked over to his boyfriend, who was giggling at the spectacle, "Lovi! Back me up!

"Ha! I told you we shouldn't have come in here, dumbass! Doesn't matter whether I say you're a teacher or not, she's calling security right now!"

Antonio looked over to see the woman and her son at the register, asking talking to the cashier and pointing to Antonio, obviously angry and demanding that security be called. Antonio, of course, panicked at the sight. He ran over and pulled his boyfriend from the chair, and dragged him out of the store, running through the mall and out the front door to his car. Only when he tried to open his car door did he realize that he was still clutching the now stolen teddy bear and bear-sized t-shirt.

"You fucking idiot! We won't be able to go in there for months! What the hell were you thinking talking to that little kid?!"

"I was only talking to him like I would one of my kids! And hey! We got a free bear!" Lovino exploded at that.

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!? IS THAT ALL YOU CARE ABOUT, YOU FUCKING IDIOT? WE CAN'T GO INTO THAT MALL ANYMORE BECAUSE YOU WERE ACTING LIKE A FUCKING PEDOPHILE AND TALKING TO SOME RANDOM SIX YEAR OLD BECAUSE ALL YOU CARE ABOUT IS YOUR FUCKING KINDERGARTEN CLASS, YOU FUCKWAD! AND WHAT IF THEY CALL THE COPS, WHAT THEN? YOU PROBABLY DIDN'T EVEN THINK TO CARE ABOUT THAT, NOW DID YOU?!" By now, Lovino was standing less than a foot away, and Antonio could read nothing past the pure rage in his eyes.

"That's… That's not true, Lovi. I'm sure they'll let us back in! And I care about you, silly! I love you…" Anxiety was building up inside of him; was his boyfriend going to calm down any time soon?

BAM! A fist collided with Antonio's face, causing his right eye to explode with pain. He glanced at Lovino, confused and upset. He stared at Lovino for what seemed like hours, looking for some sign of remorse. All he could read was fury, without a single sign of guilt. With a sigh, he unlocked his car.

"Get in, Lovi. I'm supposed to be meeting Gil and Francis soon. I'll drop you off." The still seething Italian walked around, and climbed into the passenger seat.

The ride to Lovino's house was silent, and seemingly much longer than the ride there. Neither man looked at the other, one focused on the road, and the other staring blankly out of the passenger side window. By the time they had reached their destination, Antonio's eye had started to swell and turn a sickeningly dark purple. Lovino climbed out of his boyfriend's car, and gave him a look that almost appeared to be akin to guilt.

"Tell them… Tell them you hit your face on the headboard this morning… And… don't do anything stupid tonight." The Spaniard nodded at his lover's request.

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow, Lovi. Call me, okay?"

"Whatever." Lovino was back to his usual, sarcastic self. He closed the door and walked into his house as his boyfriend drove off.

-o-0-o-

"You know what I looooveee about Saturdays?" Maddie giggled, snuggling up to her boyfriend's chest.

"Hmm?" Her boyfriend glanced at her lazily, his red eyes nearly glowing in the soft light of their bedroom.

"Spending all day in bed with you." She pressed a small kiss to his bare chest, then slowly worked her way up, along his collarbone and neck, before settling on his lips. After a lengthy kiss, she pulled back and smiled, resting her forehead against his. "Je t'aime, Gil."

"Ich liebe dich auch, Maddie."

Just as he went in for another kiss, his phone cut in, blaring La Bamba at top volume. He leaned back, sighing. Maddison groaned and sat up. _What the hell does Antonio want now?_

"Gil! I thought you weren't supposed to see your friends until five!"

Gil shushed his girlfriend and sat up, answering his phone, "What do you want, Tonio? The awesome me was about to get laid and you're cutting in on my sex-with-Maddie time!"

Madison, of course, blushed furiously and slapped his arm. She loved Gilbert Bielschmidt more than anything; she had loved him more than anything for the past five years. But she absolutely hated that he was so casual about bragging to his friends about their sex life, and their relationship in general. Fortunately for her, most of the people Gil talked to barely remembered who she was, but it still bothered her. Why couldn't he let those things stay between the two of them?

Gil smirked at his girlfriend and sent a suggestive wink her way. He knew it bugged her when he talked to his friends about what happened in their bedroom, but she was too awesome. He couldn't _not_ tell his friends about how awesome their relationship was. Why didn't she get that he only did it because he needed the world to know what a lucky guy he was?

"Sorry, Gil! Do you need me to go? I wanted to hang out early since I left Lovi's early, but if you're busy then we can just meet at the time we planned, it's not a big deal, I mean, I've got stuff to grade…" Antonio, in all his ramblings, of course left out why he had left his boyfriend early. Gil, however, could infer that something had happened simply because he'd said that he left Lovino's early. Antonio never left Lovino's early. He glanced at the clock. It was only 3:45, but he'd have to get ready soon anyway.

"Tonio, it's cool. Go on and head over, I'll be ready in like fifteen minutes."

"Thanks, Gil! See you then!" Gil hung up and heard his girlfriend sigh.

"What was all that about?" she gave him a curious look.

"My guess is that Tonio and Lovi had a fight. He left Lovi's early and wanted to see me. I told him that Lovino wasn't the awesome guy that he deserved."

"Gil! Don't make this into an I-told-you-so situation. Go make yourself decent and get ready to help your friend through this."

"If I do, will you make pancakes? I want the kind with the little chocolate chips in them!"

"No! I shouldn't have to reward you for doing things you're supposed to do."

"But Maddieeeeeeee! I'm hungryyyyyyyyyyy," he whined; then upon seeing her incredulous look changed his tone. "Sir Gilbert the Awesome commands thee, wench, to make him pancakes with little chocolate chips!" Maddie couldn't help but crack a smile at that.

"There's no point if you're leaving soon. Maybe tomorrow. Now go get ready before Antonio shows up and sees you naked. I'm the only one allowed to see you like that, got it?" Gilbert gave her a pouting look, and sulked away to shower. Maddison shook her head, then climbed out of bed to get dressed before heading downstairs.

_KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! _Maddie left her place on the couch to answer the door, opening it to a smiling Spanish man holding out a bouquet of red and white daisies to her.

"Hola, Señorita Williams! Lo siento! I didn't know my call would put a kink in your plans for today, so I stopped at the store on my way here and got you some daisies!"

Maddie giggled at the unintended pun. "So basically these are 'sorry I ruined your chances of getting laid' flowers?"

"Si!"

It was then that Madison actually noticed his black eye; "Shit! Come in here, what happened to your eye? Are you okay?"

Antonio glanced about nervously as he was ushered into the living room. He was a terrible liar, especially to people he knew well. _Better give it a shot… after all, it was my fault it happened, and he'd be in so much trouble…. _He sighed.

"I… hit my eye on the headboard of Lovi's bed this morning," he chuckled nervously, "I'm so stupid!"

_Hit it on a headboard… there's a new one. _In her year and a half as a social worker, she'd worked several domestic violence cases, and could spot a victim in a heartbeat, especially if that victim just so happened to be her boyfriend's best friend, and a terrible liar to boot. Inexplicable bruises, obvious anxiety, and all of Antonio's normal signs of lying: glancing around nervously, sweating slightly, shifting from foot to foot. _It was definitely Lovino… the question is… was this the first time? Probably… Then again, he could be covering something with his clothes… _She did her best to hide her skepticism at his story.

"Okay, well, have a seat, then I'll go find Gil." She gestured to the couch, then headed upstairs, daisies in hand.

-o-0-o-

"You want me to what?"

"Do some recon. Like a spy. Get information out of him. Be sneaky about it. I think there's something going on between him and his boyfriend. You're going out for drinks, so just make sure he gets tipsy enough to be brutally honest. I'm worried about him."

"I am definitely up to this awesome and heroic task! But seriously Maddie, I'd have done that on my own. You don't have to ask me. I'm gonna get him so hammered, he'll tell me everything! I mean, I'd get him hammered anyway, but now I've got a reason to!"

Gill pulled a blue polo over his head, and checked his reflection in the mirror. Seeming satisfied, he sent himself a few "come hither" looks, before blowing himself a kiss, and flexing his biceps.

Madison sighed and rolled her eyes at her boyfriend's antics, putting her flowers in a vase on their dresser. Despite how egotistically he behaved at times, she knew he would do anything to take care of Antonio, but she was afraid that if she didn't remind him to be tactful, he'd be terribly obvious about his information-gathering, and risk his friend clamming up.

"I know, honey. Now go have fun with your friends, okay?" She kissed him lightly and all but pushed him out of the room, lightly tapping his behind on his way out.

_Okay, Gil. You are way too awesome to mess this up. One of the most awesome guys ever may be in trouble, and it's up to you to help him! Let's roll! _Gilbert walked downstairs, grabbed his friend, and headed out to pick up the last third of their trio.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: **Sorry to take this long to upload, again! I'm trying to upload at least one chapter a week, hopefully that will be okay with everyone. I hope you guys like this chapter, not much Spamano in it though. There is, however a very angry fem!Canada. I know fem!Canada is supposed to be Madeline, but whenever I hear the name "Maddie", I think "Maddison". Thanks to you peoples who reviewed, followed, and/or favorited the story so far!

**Disclaimer: **I don't actually own these characters, even though I really want to. Maybe some day, if I wish upon a star, that dream will come true.

* * *

"AANNNDDDD YOU MIGHT HATE ME-"

"BUT IT AINNTT NO LIEEEEE-"

"BABY BYE BYE BYEEEEEEEE! BYE BYE!"

After dragging Gilbert from his house almost an hour early, Antonio had then insisted they stop at Taco Bell. This normally wouldn't be an issue, but Gil would've much rather had Maddie's chocolate chip pancakes at the time, and was in a slightly bad mood because of it. After eating, they'd showed up twenty minutes late to Francis's house, whom, although being picked up almost a half an hour late, was still not ready ("You cannot rush perfection,_ mon cher_!"). Finally, after almost having to physically force their persnickety friend out the door, they were headed to their favorite bar, a mere forty-five minutes later than they'd planned.

It just so happened to be the Green Dragon's karaoke night, which was held once a month. This month's theme was nineties music, and, of course, the trio of friends couldn't resist drunkenly making an attempt at N'SYNC's "Bye Bye Bye". At this point in the song, they were falling all over each other. Although Francis was barely tipsy, his friend's antics were sending him into random fits of nearly uncontrollable laughter. Antonio was, as always, completely oblivious to those laughing at him, tripping his friends and almost falling himself a few times. Gilbert, tired of not being the center of attention of course, tried moving to the front of the stage.

"DON'T REALLY WANNA MAKE IT TOUGH, I JUST WANNA TELL YOU-" At this point, he had come dangerously close to the edge of the stage. Antonio ran forward to pull him closer to the back of the stage, but, in his drunken state, tripped over his own two feet and ended up knocking both of them off of the stage and onto the floor. Luckily for them, the stage wasn't very high. However, after being landed on top of, Gil was sporting a few newly forming bruises, and no longer much in the mood for karaoke.

"H-hey Tonio!"

"Yeahhhh?"

"Wanna go an' sit… back at our um… table an then, we can… can wait for Francis to finish the s-song?"

"ssssssiiiiiii mi amigo!"

The two stumbled slightly on their way back to their table, then fell into their respective chairs, and ordered a new round of drinks. Francis had noticed their absence and was now taking advantage of having the stage to himself, dancing a bit suggestively and winking at the attractive people he saw walk past. _Mm.. she's awfully cute… I'll have to find her later… _he thought to himself as he noticed a particularly cute waitress walking past with a tray full of drinks. She noticed him staring, and, blushing, she hurried off to whatever table she was waiting.

"H-hey Tonio… you never… you never told me why you wanted to co-come over earlyyyy!" Something in the back of Gil's sluggish mind was telling him that this information was important, but he couldn't exactly figure out what. Something in the back of Antonio's mind was reminding him that he was supposed to lie, remember what Lovino had told him to say.

"I was late.. because I hit my head on the bed post at Lovi's…"

"You mean you were early?" Gil asked, giggling.

"SI! I MEANT I WAS EARLY! I GOT TO YOUR HOUSE TOO EARLY!" Antonio burst into a fit of giggles, sending Gil into a similar state. A few minutess later, Francis walked over.

"Qu'est-ce qui se passe ici? Why are you laughing so hard, mes amis?" At this, Gilbert and Antonio both stopped laughing to think. Antonio and Gil both downed their drinks in hopes of getting rid of the hiccups they now had, to no avail.

"Hold on…," Antonio hiccupped, "Gil…Why _are _we laughing?"

"I… I dunno… Wait! I remember! It's 'cause you said you were early!" Francis, of course, took this in the most vulgar way possible, and his laughter caused the other two men to laugh as hard as they previously had. Once they'd all calmed down a bit, Francis seemed to notice Antonio's black eye for the first time.

"Mon cher! What has happened to your eye?" He moved closer to Antonio to get a better look, unnecessarily wrapping his arm around his friend's waist in the process and tilting his chin to look him straight in the eye. Antonio backed away a bit, slightly freaked out by being so close to his best friend's face. Francis seemed not to notice as he waited for his answer. Antonio, by this time had completely forgotten about the lie he was supposed to be telling, and was now, oblivious to anything that could go wrong if he did tell the truth.

"Lovi got… got mad… cause I… I got the mall police-" he hiccupped," police men called on us… anthen.. annn then we had a fight, so then he was angry with me, annn he," another hiccup," he hit m-me. It'ss okay though, he won't," hiccup, "won't do it again… he was really upset…" Antonio's eyes glazed over and he stared sadly at his now empty glass.

"Oh, mon cher…" Francis tsk'ed and shook his head. He was worried. He knew Lovino loved Antonio, but there was no doubt in his mind that Lovino could, and would lose his temper like that. "Mes ami, you need to be careful. You are not a child… If he is doing these things, you need to take care of yourself, mon cher. Call the police, or at least stay away from him for a while."

Gil still had his case of hiccups through this, and was barely paying attention as he giggled whilst ineffectively willing them away.

"Nnooooo, Francis! I l-loove himmm. If I call the police I'llll goo to jailll or some-somethingg… nooo!"

Francis shook his head, there was no reasoning with his drunken friend.

"F-Francis… I'm boreddd-" Antonio had already forgotten his worry over Lovino.

"Me too! I'm way too awesome for this! Wh-where's Maddie?"

"Gilbert, you left Maddison at home again. And what do you want to do now, Antonio? The two of you are not single, like moi, and therefore cannot accompany me in conversing with the lovely ladies and gentlemen in this establishment."

"We can go home, and I'll pick up Maddie! She loves my awesome pick-up lines, I can get her in bed with just one, that's how awesome they are!"

"Gilbert, mes ami, Maddison hates your pick-up lines. She has told both you and I on numerous occasions."

"psshhhhh. Yeahhh righttt!"

Antonio decided that now was the opportune time to interrupt. "Hey guys! What if we go and… and steal one of the boats from the docks downtown, and, and then we can be piratesss? AARRRGGG!"

Francis smirked, "I know just the one, mon cher."

-o-0-o-

Around two in the morning, Maddison Williams received a phone call, rousing her from a fitful sleep. She'd had a hard time falling asleep. She knew she wasn't like most of the girls Gil was into, she wasn't busty, she didn't wear much makeup, and she didn't dress like them either. She played hockey, made pancakes, and would enjoy a night of snuggling on the couch more than a night out any day. She knew that Gil loved her, and she knew he wouldn't cheat on her, even if he was dead plastered, but she couldn't help worrying. It was just in her nature. Besides all that, he hadn't called, or even texted once all night.

_Jesus… it's two am, what could anyone be doing right now that requires me to come into work…? _She then noticed that her boyfriend wasn't in bed with her. Sighing, she picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Maddie! Hey! It's me, Gil!" Her boyfriend sounded as though he either had been or was currently drinking. Either way, she had a feeling that this phone call would not end well.

"Yes, Gil, I know it's you. Could you tell me why you're calling me at two o'clock in the morning?"

"OHHhhh, yeaahhhhh. Well, see, we got bored at the bar, cause Antonio was being all sad about him and Lovino having a fight, so, Antonio said we should steal a boat from the docks, and we thought it'd be really fucking cool, cause, then, we could be awesome pirates who sail the seven seas and have awesome adventures and plunder and pillage and get awesome treasure and-"

"Gil." She cut him off, "What. Did. You. Three. Do." Maddison Williams was not one to be angered easily. The last time she had blown up at anyone, it had been her sister, who was being ridiculously over-protective of her when she'd started dating Gil. That was almost six years ago now. Maddison Williams could put up with a lot. She could put up with her sister missing her state hockey tournament in high school, she could handle Francis hitting on her even though he knew she was in a relationship with Gilbert, and she could even handle the fact that after being together for over half a decade, her boyfriend seemed to have absolutely no plans to propose to her any time soon. But she could not handle the idea that her boyfriend was semi-drunk, calling her at two in the morning to get him out of trouble because he and all of his friends were idiots. She liked sleep. And she did not like when it was disturbed.

"Heh… Well, Maddie, you know I love you right?" Gilbert didn't have much common sense, or sense, in general. But he could tell that Maddie was upset, and he had just enough sense to know that he needed to tread lightly here. "See, we ended up actually taking a boat… But only Tonio really knows how to drive one, and, and he couldn't really see straight, so he didn't do such an awesome job, and me and Francis just really liked making the boat's horn go off, and it sounded really awesome so we did it a lot, and it distracted Tonio a little, y'know, cause he's not as awesome as me and was too plastered to handle himself, and so, uh, we kinda, we kinda crashed it into the docks… And then somebody called the cops, cause, um… cause they heard us making the horn beep, and.. and… now…. Now we're kinda…. Kinda in jail…"

"And you want me to get you out?"

"Yeah. C'mon, Maddie! Please! I'm too awesome to spend a night in jail!"

"Give me one good reason to get you three out of there."

"Tonio's not here. It's just me and Francis."

"How- you know what? I don't want to know. Gilbert Bielschmidt, you have exactly three seconds to tell me why I should get you and that idiot Francis out of jail or so help me God I will let you spend the rest of the night in jail and lose no sleep over it. "

"B-because, Maddie, I-" *click*

Maddison hung up angrily, perfectly willing to let her boyfriend spend the night in jail. She was quite upset though, because she really was losing sleep over leaving him there. She was worried about him_. _She couldn't just leave the love of her life overnight in a jail cell, could she?_ Maple. He's going to pay for this._

Not fifteen minutes later, she was at the police station, in her pajamas, and ready to kick her idiot boyfriend and his idiot best friend in their idiot faces.

As soon as they were released, Gilbert ran over to his infuriated girlfriend, swept her into his arms, and kissed her squarely on the lips. Francis, noticing her absolutely livid expression, decided to watch how this played out before speaking.

"Maddie! I knew you'd come get the awesome me! Awesome girlfriends like you don't leave their awesome boyfriends in jail. Cause that'd definitely be un-awesome."

"Gilbert." She pushed him away, then grabbed his hand and pulled him to the door. "Do not speak to me. I'm incredibly angry with you, and I hope you have a great time sleeping on the couch, because no way in hell are you sleeping with me."

Gilbert laughed, "It's been four years since I first seized your vital regions, you wanna give me some spiel about purity now?"

Madison turned around, drawing herself up to her full height of five-foot-four, looking up to stare her six-foot boyfriend dead in the eye, her voice terrifyingly low. "Gilbert. Bielschmidt. I dragged myself out of bed at two o'clock in the morning to come get you out of jail, after worrying for HOURS because I had no idea where you were and you didn't even bother to text me all night. I suggest that you get your friend," she pointed to Francis," get in my car, and shut the hell up until we are home, and if I hear a peep out of either of you until everyone is safely in their own homes, I will leave both of you on the side of the road, and lock you out of the house, because I know you don't have your key, because you left it on the coffee table. Again."

Gilbert nodded, afraid that she'd really meant what she'd just said. Sub-consciously, he knew that she didn't mean any of it, but the sight of her eyes blazing, hands on her hips, and glaring at him so fiercely made him believe every word. He found it oddly scary, but he'd never seen her look so hot. He looked away, knowing that she wouldn't move until he did. He nodded, motioned to Francis to come along, and the three of them wordlessly got into the car and, after dropping Francis off, Gil and Maddie went home.

True to her word, Maddie made him sleep on the couch. She regretted it slightly, because she really wanted someone to cuddle, and she was a little curious about what had happened to Antonio, but she also wanted to Gilbert to know that she was seriously angry. So, with a sigh, she grabbed her old stuffed polar bear off of the top of their shared dresser, and fell asleep within minutes.

o-0-o

Antonio woke up, opened his eyes, and immediately closed them.

"Cállate, sun!" _Why is it so bright? My head hurts… _Antonio slowly opened his eyes, blinking back tears at the brightness that assaulted them. Why was he not in his room? He looked around. Why was he in a bush? Antonio reached into his pocket for his phone…. Which had a ten percent charge to it, and would be dying soon. What a great start to the day! He was down by the docks, on the opposite side of town from where he lived. He pulled up his contact list, then dialed Gil's number. It rang a few times before his friend picked up.

"Gil! Um…. I'm down at the docks all alone, mi amigo. Can you come pick me up, and maybe give me a ride, por favor?"

"Tonio…. I think Maddie's gonna kill me if I leave… she was really pissed about getting me outta jail last night. Call Francis for a ride, I think he's up, he was texting me." Now Antonio was endlessly confused. He'd woken up here, and his friends had ended up in jail?

"Okay… Bye, Gil."

*click*

Antonio then called Francis for a ride, and within twenty minutes he was in his friend's car, with the radio playing at top volume, of course.

"Francis, can we please make the loud stop?" Antonio's headache was making thinking and forming proper sentences difficult. Francis laughed.

"Why, mon cher, are you saying that you don't like this music?"

"Francis, please. I don't like loud things right now." The normally jovial and bubbly Spaniard sent him a perfect puppy dog look, which just about broke his heart to see. Francis sighed and turned the radio off. They drove in silence for a few moments, before Antonio's curiosity got the better of him.

"Francis… What happened last night after the karaoke? I woke up in a bush today."

His friend chuckled at that. "You see, mes ami…" the Frenchman proceeded to tell Antonio the happenings of the night before, "And when we began to hear sirens, you knew you could be fired for such a thing, and never allowed to teach again. You were crying over it, and so Gilbert and myself shoved you behind that bush and told you to shut up. When the police came, they arrested only the two of us, and you did not get into any trouble at all."

"I owe you guys… Gracias, Francis!" Antonio couldn't help himself. Despite a splitting headache, and being incredibly tired, and everything hurting, he jumped across the seat divider and hugged his friend. This, of course, caused the driver to swerve dangerously.

"Get off of me, you imbicile! I am going to crash the car!" Francis pushed his friend away and straightened out the car. They were both silent for a few minutes, before the Frenchman spoke again. Now, he seemed much more serious than before.

"Antonio… mes ami… You also told us something last night that… I do not believe that you would have told us if we had not been drinking…"

Antonio paled at that. "What'd I say?"

"You told us where you really got your black eye… That Lovino gave it to you…"

Antonio raised his hand to touch his eye gently and winced. He chuckled nervously.

"Francis, mi amigo, I'm sure you're mistaken. I was drunk, and so were you and Gil. I told all of you, I hit my head on the bed yesterday morning." Francis sighed at Antonio's obvious lie. They rode the rest of the way in silence.

When they reached their destination, Francis stopped his friend as he got out of the car.

"Mon cher, I know much about l'amour. Lovino loves you, but you cannot let him continue to treat you as he does. That will only break both of your hearts. Oui?"

Antonio didn't answer, and shut the door without even a glance back at his friend. _¡Dios mío! Lovi was just upset! He won't do it again! What is with everyone?_


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:** Wowzers, two updates in one week, my readers sure are lucky people *cough* love you guys *cough* Ahem. So, hopefully you'll all enjoy this update! There should be a new one pretty soon, I've already got parts of the next chapter written, I hope the prospect of a new update will excuse the shortness of this one!

**Disclaimer: **Swiggity swing, I don't own the thing.

* * *

A few weeks passed with Antonio's friends worrying about him. As far as they knew, Lovino hadn't hit him again after that first black eye. Well, that was what he thought, anyway. You could never be sure, with that crew.

Contrary to popular belief, Antonio wasn't an idiot. He knew that if his friends knew what was happening, they would either call the cops on his boyfriend, or beat him to a bloody pulp. He got smart about hiding his bruises; Maybeline could cover up almost anything. He couldn't, however hide everything. A busted lip here and there, that one bruise that was too dark to cover completely. His friends noticed. But what could they do? Antonio didn't want to admit there was a problem, and they couldn't do anything to help him.

After finding out what had really caused that first black eye, his friends had all tried to approach him about it. All of them told him to leave Lovino, but how could he walk out on the love of his life like that?

Lovino couldn't control his temper. Everyone knew that. Antonio always blamed himself when his boyfriend blew up, often at his expense. Lovino did feel guilty about hitting Antonio. Not that he'd ever admit it, but he loved the stupid, happy bastard. But he got so angry sometimes he couldn't think straight. There wasn't a way to really control his rage; not that he knew of, anyway.

It was the third week of November before Antonio could admit to anyone, even himself, that this was a problem. He received a call on the loudspeaker from the school's office that morning, telling him that Mr. Copeland wanted to meet with him over lunch. _Why does the principal want to see me? _Antonio agreed, then turned back to his giggling class. Mr. C was in trouble!

o-0-o

"Mr. Carriedo, I'm glad you had some free time now. Please, have a seat."

Antonio felt like he was in school all over again; being sent to the office for some event which had taken place because of Gilbert's destructive nature, Francis's deviousness, and his own willingness to execute whatever plan they'd come up with. He took a seat on the side of the principal's desk facing his boss.

"Now, Antonio, I'm sure you're wondering why you're here."

_For once, yes, yes I am._

"It has come to the attention of a few staff members, including myself, that you've been showing up to work, quite often lately, sporting bumps and bruises here and there. I know you think make up will cover it, but I promise, if I can see my wife's wrinkles through her foundation, I can see the bruises through yours. I'm only wondering, what can you possibly be doing outside of work to get scraped up so often?"

Antonio glanced around nervously. He didn't have a lie prepared for something like this! His breathing quickened as his heart pounded in his chest.

"Ah- Well, you see, Mr. Copeland… heh… Uhm…" He glanced around a bit more, "I'm just… I'm just clumsy, that's all… Tripping over my own two feet, falling out of bed, you know, normal stuff… hah.."

Mr. Copeland didn't believe it. He knew Carriedo was up to something. He had no idea what though. He was convinced that Antonio had a drinking problem; the kind of problem that caused you to get into bar fights now and then.

"Ah… Uh-huh. Well, Mr. Carriedo, I suggest that you tread more carefully from now on… What will parents think if their students' teacher looks like he came out of the bad side of a drunken brawl?"

Antonio got the underlying message here: _clean up your act, or you're fired. _

"Yes sir, I understand. It won't happen anymore." Antonio needed to get out of here, quick.

"Alright then, that's all I needed. You're free to go, Mr. Carriedo."

Antonio jumped up and practically ran out of the office and back to his classroom.

o-0-o

"Okay, class! I've got a very good friend of mine here to talk to us today about the police and the important jobs they do! Her name is Police Officer Jones, and I want everyone in here to be very good and put on your best, big-kid listening ears, alright?"

"Yes, Mr. C!" The kindergarteners chorused.

Allison Jones walked into the room to see two dozen smiling six-year-olds, with their best big-kid listening ears on. She had always loved kids, especially ones who seemed to be so well behaved.

"Hey there, kiddos! Who wants to learn about being a police officer?"

And so the next half hour was spent with the children listening to Allison talk about her adventures being a hero for the city.

"Alrighty, so it looks like I've got time for a few questions from you guys! Anybody wanna ask something I didn't already tell ya?"

A tiny girl with big green eyes and short blonde hair raised her hand.

"Yeah, sweetie? What's your name? And what's your question?" Allison pointed out the little girl.

"Um.. I'm Lilli. How come you wanted to be a police instead of a mommy like other girls?"

Allison giggled, and Lilli's cheeks flamed.

"Well, honey. I wanted to be a police officer, because I wanted to help people. When I was a little girl, my daddy wasn't very nice to my mommy. I told my best friend next door, Arthur. He told me that police could make mean people like my daddy go to jail, so they couldn't hurt nice people like my mommy any more. And I thought that maybe I could help someone else, like how the policemen helped my mommy and me. And I might be a mommy too, some day. Not yet, though. Anyone else?" She pointed to a little boy in the front row.

"Are you and Arthur still friends?" Allison giggled at this question, too.

"No, not anymore. He's my fiancé now. That means I'm going to marry him soon!"

All of the kindergarteners gagged. They knew what getting married meant. Getting married meant kissing. And kissing meant cooties.

Antonio laughed, his thoughts starting to drift. He knew the real details of his friend's much-censored story. Her dad was abusive towards her mother, and if not for Arthur telling Allie to call the cops, he probably would've started on her eventually, too. It broke Antonio's heart, really. Allie's parents had once been in love, and there they were, split forever because her father couldn't control his temper. Then, something clicked.

_I can't let that happen between me and Lovi. _

o-0-o

"Mi amigos, I need your help."

"Yeah, man, we kinda guessed. Calling us for drinks on a Wednesday, with your un-awesome job? Had to be an emergency." Gilbert downed his beer, not yet phased by the alcohol coursing through his system. Francis sent him a look. Gil rolled his eyes.

"What Gil _means_ to say, I'm sure, mon cher, is that you never drink during the week, especially not this early, and this is a surprise." Francis re-phrased what Gil had tactlessly blurted. They were right though, it was only four pm, and a Wednesday to boot… something was up.

"ANYWAY, what could be so important as to call me away from invading Maddie's vital regions?"

Antonio sighed and rubbed his temples. This was going to be a long discussion.

"Guys… I think… I think my relationship might be starting to… go south…" Antonio didn't really know how to word what he was trying to say properly.

"You mean… you and Lovi are… breaking up, mon cher?" Francis couldn't believe his ears. They both obviously cared for each other so much…

"N-no. That's not what I'm saying." He took a deep breath, "I know you both think he hasn't, but… Lovi's been… He can't… He can't control his temper and… he's been… taking it out on me…" his voiced dropped slowly to nearly a whisper.

Francis's eyes narrowed. Gil's face turned red. Even though he knew what was happening, he had tried not to allow himself to become angry, since his friend didn't seem to want him to. Now, however, all bets were off.

"Verdamnt! I'll kick his un-awesome ass into next Tues-"

"GILBERT! Can you not see that this is breaking poor Antonio's heart? You cannot change what has happened! Antonio, mon cher, what do you need us to do?"

Francis wrapped his arm around his friend's sagging shoulders. Antonio could feel tears wanting to form, but he stared into his drink, willing them away.

"I don't know… I need help. I don't want to leave him…. I love mi tomate… but I don't want to end up like Allie's parents either… split forever because her papa couldn't control his anger…"

Even Gilbert sobered at that. All three were silent for a moment, Antonio thinking about his class this afternoon, and the other two slightly confused as to why he'd thought of that. They weren't complaining though, their friend was finally trying to get help.

"Mon cher, I believe I know what you must do."

"Si, Francis? What do I do?"

"Antonio, you won't like this, but, you have to break it off-"

"I can't leave my Lovi! I love him! I don't know what I'd-"

"HEY! Both of you idiots shut up! I've got an idea, and it's awesome. So shut up, and I'll tell you what to do, Tonio."

Antonio and Francis did indeed shut up. They looked skeptically at each other, then Gilbert, waiting to hear what he had to say.

"Leave him." Gilbert looked intensely pleased with himself. Francis face-palmed, and Antonio dropped his head onto the table.

"NO, Gil! That's not what I'm doing!"

Gilbert looked upset that his idea wasn't being taken seriously.

"Now, if you would both be kind enough to trust the _master_ of l'amour, and listen to moi?"

Gilbert snorted, "More like master of one night stands."

Francis's face turned red, "For Antonio's sake, I will pretend not to have heard that. Now, mes ami, you have to take a break from this relationship for a while. Lovino must learn to control his temper. Tell him that until he can control his anger, you cannot see him. When he has learned some self-control, you can see him again."

Antonio nodded. He hated the idea of breaking it off with his Lovi, but this was the only way he could see it possibly working for both of them, some day.

"Si, Francis. I agree with you. I need to go, I'll talk to you both later."

Antonio left the bar then, sending a quick text to Lovino. He sat in his front seat for a few minutes, waiting for a response.

**Sent from: Antonio 4:47pm**

_Mind if I come over soon?_

**Received: 4:48pm**

**Sent from: Lovino 4:50pm**

_Yeah, but you'd better have clothes this time if you're staying. I'm not giving you any more of my shirts, bastard._

**Received: 4:51pm**

**Sent from: Antonio 4:52pm**

_I'll be there in 20 minutes._

**Received: 4:52pm**

Antonio sighed, starting his car. He headed home, quickly grabbing a box and filling it with Lovino's things. He stared at the box in his passenger seat, forcing his tears back. _Don't cry. You're going to get him back._

o-0-o

_knock knock knock_

_Idiota. Probably forgot that I gave him a key again. _Lovino opened the door to see a very somber Spaniard, holding a cardboard box. The Italian was very confused. _Shit… did I forget our anniversary or something?_

"May I come in, mi tomate? I have something for you." Lovino, still confused, stepped aside. Antonio walked into the living room, and placed the box on the coffee table.

"M-mi cariño," Antonio looked sadly towards his other half, "I need to speak with you."

Lovino walked towards his boyfriend, starting to fear what was coming. _Don't do it, you bastard. Don't you dare do what I think you're about to. _

"Lovi… I love you. But we can't do this. You can't-" Antonio's voice was breaking, and tears started forming in his eyes, "you can't keep losing control of your temper. Mi tomate, we can't be together if you can't handle your anger. I'm leaving. I can't see you until you can control yourself. I brought your clothes and other things from my apartment. You can send my stuff to work with Feli." Antonio couldn't hold back his tears much longer. He started walking towards the door.

"You're leaving me? YOU'RE LEAVING ME?! You can't do that! What the hell, bastardo!"

"Lovi, I'm sorry…" Antonio walked out the front door, with one last glance at his little Italian. Lovino's face was bright red as his other half walked out the door.

Antonio walked to his car, driving home, and finally letting his tears spill.

Lovino grabbed a potted plant of Feliciano's and heaved it at the wall. Its' shattering sound wasn't satisfying. He threw the small cardboard box to the floor, glancing down when he heard a small _crack!_ The Italian kneeled near the box, searching for the source of the sound. He had to pull out a few t-shirts, before coming across a small picture frame. Inside was a photo of him and Antonio, from their first date. They'd gone to a photo booth outside the movie theatre after seeing Ocean's Thirteen. He couldn't believe that his now-ex-boyfriend had kept the stupid picture, and framed it too. Upon seeing it, tears filled his eyes. _That bastard! How could he do this?! I can control myself! _Lovino wasn't stupid. He knew why Antonio had left. He knew he couldn't control his temper, and he had known that eventually it would cause a problem. He wanted to apologize every time he'd hurt Antonio, pull him into his arms and kiss away the pain he'd caused. But, being Lovino, he wouldn't admit that to anyone. Nor would he be actually doing any of that romantic bullshit anytime soon.

Lovino couldn't handle thinking about the relationship he'd lost. He threw the picture across the room, and like the plant's pot, it shattered. Lovino sat on the floor and pulled his knees to his chest. Feliciano wouldn't be home any time soon. He was out with that potato bastard. Lovi put his head onto his knees and let the tears fall. What was the point? Nobody would see if he cried. He wasn't really sure he cared anyway. What was the point in caring anymore?


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: **Thanks to everyone who reviewed/followed! A special thanks to the person who pointed out my flawed Spanish in Chapter 3, I did go back to fix that. And to the one who said Antonio could totes destroy Lovino if he tried: yes, he could. I'd actually considered the idea of having him hit back and leave Lovi in the parking lot, but... Idk, Spain is scary as hell when he's angry, but I couldn't think of anywhere to go with that. So this is it. If I knew how to individually respond to you guys, I would.

ANNNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDD this chapter was up more slowly than I thought it'd be (thank you, job -.-) so apologies for that. Hopefully you guys all like this new chapter. It's short (again. I need to quit doing that.) but I think this one's good.

**Disclaimer: **NOOOOTTTT MMYYYY THIIIINNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGSSSSSSSSSSSS. Except the plot. Plot things are my things.

* * *

Feliciano burst through the door, dragging his boyfriend along after him.

"Come on, Ludwig!" He pulled his boyfriend into a kiss at the bottom of the stairs, "Don't you want to stay with me tonight?" He asked, his tone husky.

"Ja, Feli, but-" Feli covered Ludwig's lips with his own, then pulled away to look at his boyfriend.

"But what? Don't you want me, Ludwig?" His normally bright amber eyes were now clouded with lust, his lips forming a slight pout that he knew his lover couldn't resist.

_Verdamnt. He knows I can't resist that look._

"Everybody knows you two bastards are going to fuck like rabbits in five minutes, so just go the fuck away!" Feliciano noticed his brother for the first time, sitting on the living room floor, knees up to his chest, head down, and next to a box of what appeared to be his own clothing and other various objects.

Feli whispered to his boyfriend, "Why don't you go wait upstairs for me?" He sent him a wink, then walked over to his brother. The German blushed, and rushed up the stairs, silently hoping that this would only take a few minutes. He didn't know how long he could handle waiting for his little Italian to walk through that bedroom door.

"Fratello, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. Go be with that stupid potato bastard. Nothing happened."

"Lovi, what happened today?"

Lovino looked up at his brother, old tears staining his face. "Antonio… He… he dumped me."

Feliciano gasped; he couldn't believe it. There was no reason he could see for them to break up. Antonio was the only person outside of their small familgia that Lovi really cared about. Surely Antonio knew that? And it was obvious to everyone how the oblivious Spaniard was completely head over heels for his fratello. What had happened?

"Wh-why would he do that, fratello?" Feli could feel his own tears coming.

"Because…" Lovino was so embarrassed of himself, and his behavior. He put his head back down on his knees. Could he really admit this to his brother? "Because I hit him."

Feli shook his head, shocked at what he was hearing. "Lovi… you what?"

"I hit him, okay!? I just got so angry sometimes, I couldn't do anything! I love that stupid bastard, and I just fucking lost him and I don't know what the fuck I'm supposed to fucking do now!" This was the first time he had openly admitted his love for Antonio. It was too little, too late.

Feliciano's eyes narrowed. It was incredibly rare for him to be upset with his fratello, but this was unacceptable! "Lovi… Nonno says you don't hurt somebody you love."

"I don't give a fuck what Nonno says! What happened fucking happened!"

"Lovi… What did Antonio say when he left?" Feliciano inwardly sighed. He was angry with his brother, but he also knew he needed to help him. If Feli didn't help, who would?

"He said… He said he couldn't be with me if I can't control my anger."

Feliciano's eyes brightened, an idea forming in his head, "Lovi, do you want to be with Tonio?"

"What the hell do you think?" Feli decided that this was as close to a "yes" as he was going to get.

"I know what to do, ve!"

o-0-o

Antonio stared off into space as his kids went to their centers. He had always allotted a while for them to play during the day, knowing that trying to keep five and six year-olds in one seat all day was in general a bad idea. He had decided to give them some extra time there today. He needed some time to think. They usually left him alone during center time, under the impression that he was busy doing important "teacher stuff", and he therefore thought he had no reason to worry about being disturbed. His thoughts traveled back to the events of last night, glancing for a quick moment at the tomato picture frame on his desk. A photo of he and Lovi, from their six-month anniversary. _God damnit. _He could feel his emotions of the previous evening flooding back, and suppressed them to the best of his ability.

"Mr. C?" A tiny voice caught him off guard. He looked down to see a pair of huge emerald eyes shining up at him. He plastered on a smile for the little girl.

"Yes, Lilli?"

"Mr. C, you looks sad. My big broder looks sad like that when he sees his friend Roderich, only they isn't friends no more. Is you sad? Did you see Roderich?" _Damn. She's five and she can see it. _

Antonio responded with a small laugh. "No, Lilli, I didn't see Roderich. And I'm not sad, I'm thinking really hard about important teacher stuff. Why don't you go play with Emil?"

Lilli looked at him for a few minutes, clearly not buying it. She walked away without a word, joining her friend at the coloring center.

Antonio sighed, watching his kiddos move around the room. They were all so happy, blissfully unaware of the grown-up world, and all the things that came along with it. Like decisions. And broken hearts.

_What if he doesn't try to come back?_

o-0-o

"What the hell, Feli? Where the fuck are we?" Feliciano parked in front of a seemingly empty, plain white building.

"Fratello, I figured out how to get Antonio back to you!"

Lovino rolled his eyes. "You said that yesterday, bastardo. You didn't tell me how."

The two brothers got out of Feliciano's car, and Lovino followed him inside. There was a small entry room, with a bulletin board on one wall, and two hallways, one going right, and the other left. Feliciano ran up to the board, read something from a blue flyer, and ran down the right hallway.

"Come on, Lovi! You're probably late! Ve~"

Lovino again followed his brother, still not sure what was going on. Feliciano waited in front of an oak colored door, and waited for Lovi to catch up. Lovino stopped, reading the sign on the door.

"Fucking anger management classes?! This is your brilliant fucking idea?"

Feliciano gave him a hard look,"Fratello, you love Antonio, right?"

The older Vargas looked at his younger brother angrily. His cheeks flamed a red that put tomatoes to shame.

"He's a bastard."

"And you love him, Lovi. Don't you want him back?"

Lovino's anger subdued itself, and was quickly replaced by remorse at the reminder of what he had lost.

"…..si."

"Okay then, in you go!" Feliciano opened the door, and pushed his brother through. As Lovino stumbled into the room, his brother called that he'd be picked up later, and ran off down the hallway. Lovino looked around the room. There were four couches, arranged in a square shape, with seven people dispersed around the various cushions.

"Come in, sit down. Can you give us your name?" A small Asian man asked.

Lovino slowly walked to the couches, and took the only seat available, next to the small Asian.

"I-I'm Lovino…" Lovino was not exactly shy, but he was caught off guard by all of this.

"Lovino, I am Honda Kiku, I'm the psychologist working with your group. Your brother signed you up to take these classes, so I'm sure you are very shocked at all of this. If you like, you can simply observe today, although I certainly do hope to hear you speak at some point tonight."

Lovino blinked, completely unaware of what was happening. He simply nodded in response, unable to say anything. This was definitely not like what he had seen in the movies.

"Everyone, since Lovnio is new here, would you be comfortable sharing why you are here, to make him feel more at-ease speaking?" Most people nodded or shrugged, clearly not ashamed of what had brought them there. Everyone went around in a circle, starting with an intimidating blonde with a heavy Russian accent. Finally, everyone had spoken, except Lovino.

"Lovino-san, would you like to share why you are here?"

Lovino thought about it for a moment. Could he really handle telling them about his break up? Really? He sighed. Better just bite the bullet.

"I was..um… seeing someone. And he-ah. He said he couldn't be with me anymore unless I could control my anger. So… So I guess I'm doing this… so we can maybe try again…" His cheeks were once again bright red. Nobody said anything, but he received several sympathetic looks.

After everyone had shared their stories, Kiku shared with them different ways to deal with their anger in different situations. He then asked people what types of methods they used on their own, and which they found to be most effective. Lovino actually paid attention, trying to remember everything that was said, so that he could (hopefully) put these things into practice. He surprised himself with how much he really wanted to take part in this. Before he knew it, two hours had passed and it was time for Feli to pick him up. He called his brother on his way out of the building, wanting a ride home. He was surprised to hear that Feli was already outside; apparently his brother had found out all he needed to about these classes before signing him up.

Well. Now all he had to do was put his new knowledge into practice.

o-0-o

Feliciano was, as usual, bouncing around their kitchen. He was intensely excited, because his boyfriend was coming over. He really wanted to ask him something important...

"Ve~ Lovi!"

"What do you want, Feli?" Lovino shouted from the living room.

His little brother came in, covered from head to toe in who knows what from his pasta-making. Feli gave his sibling a nervous look, the same look he used to give his Nonno when he knew he was in trouble. Lovi didn't notice, as his eyes were glued to the television. He pulled his gaze away from the glass screen and turned to face his little brother.

"Lovi... I need to tell you something..." Lovino's eyes widened with worry. What had his brother gotten himself into?

"What did you do?"

"Ve~ n-nothing, fratello!" Feliciano was nervous, knowing that his brother's reaction would not be good. "I'm going to... to ask Ludwig to move in with us." He squeezed his eyes hut, anticipating a storm.

Lovino's eyes narrowed. "WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU-" he stopped himself. _Wait… what was it they said… count to ten? One… two… _Lovino continued counting far past ten, focusing carefully in his head on each digit up through fifty at least. He could feel himself calming down, a little. Now he had to work on an acceptable response. _Think, damnit. What would Feli want you to say? He really does like that potato…_

"I think that's…" Lovino struggled to find the right words, "Be careful with that bastard. That's a big step, Feli." Lovino exhaled slowly. Well. That was a new experience. One that he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to duplicate. He was still trying to comprehend his own actions, when he was tackle-hugged by his messy baby brother.

"Ve! Fratello! I'm so happy that you approve! I hope he says yes!"

Lovino rolled his eyes, "I hope he says no. I don't think I could handle being around that bastard twenty-four seven." Feliciano giggled. His brother may be working on changing, but he'd never change enough to like Ludwig.

* * *

**Another A/N: **Emil is the name I found for Iceland. And yep, that classroom convo was meant to semi-reflect the episode where it mentions Switzerland's past with Austria. (Season one I believe? I'm bad with remembering what's in what season.)


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